The 193-member UN General Assembly on Thursday voted to adopt a draft resolution moved by the US to suspend Russia from the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) over allegations that Russian soldiers killed civilians while retreating from towns near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Pakistan on Wednesday failed to win a re-election to the United Nations' human rights body. The 193-member General Assembly voted here to elect 18 new members of the UN Human Rights Council.
Observing that 140 United Nations member states have already voted to condemn Russia over its unprovoked war and the humanitarian crisis it has unleashed upon the people of Ukraine, Thomas-Greenfield said Russia should not have a position of authority in that body, nor should the international community allow Russia to use their role on the Council as a tool of propaganda to suggest they have a legitimate concern about human rights.
The announcement came barely a day after the UNHRC condemned the Trump administration for its policy of separating children from the families at the US-Mexico border.
The 18 new members were elected by absolute majority through a secret ballot.
Sri Lanka on Wednesday stoutly opposed a United States sponsored resolution coming up against the country at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council, terming it as "unfair and unjust".
India has strongly rejected a report by a UN human rights expert, Gina Romero, which claimed that young people in India face retaliation or stigmatisation for discussing mental health or gender justice. India's First Secretary Anuj Swarup labelled the report as "hearsay" based on "anonymous and unverified claims," asserting that it does a disservice to the expert's mandate. Swarup highlighted India's constitutional freedoms, independent judiciary, and government's proactive engagement with youth, citing examples like the amendment to the Public Examinations Act and the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue.
Extrajudicial executions, often disguised as encounters with armed criminals, have become the norm and are widely reported in Indian media. Torture and arbitrary detentions continue, not just in insurgency-affected areas, but also in most police stations in the country. Yet, India continues to provide effective immunity from prosecution to its security forces and other public officials, HRW laments.
The UN working group on the use of mercenaries warned that private security company employees are often provided immunity and are only answerable to their employers. The report said that these 'militarily armed private soldiers' are deployed in war-torn regions such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Colombia, and are often responsible for serious human rights violations.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra has formally complained to the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, alleging that senior Muslim IAS and IPS officers in West Bengal were deliberately excluded from official events attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Moitra claims these officers were sidelined due to their religion, a pattern she describes as discriminatory and potentially damaging to minority confidence in security establishments.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif repeatedly refused to answer reporters' questions regarding Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed during his visit to the United Nations headquarters for the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
India has strongly rejected a UN special rapporteur's report describing the Dawood Ibrahim-led D-company as an "India-based" criminal group, flagging "glaring inaccuracies" and cautioning against such incompetence. First Secretary Raghoo Puri stated that Dawood Ibrahim fled India much before his 2003 listing and is wanted in India for terror attacks since 1993, residing in the same country where Osama bin Laden was found. India also raised concerns about alleged bias in the report and funding allegations against the rapporteur.
The United Nations Human Rights Council, meeting in Geneva, is expected to ratify draft principles which will recognize India's caste system as a human rights abuse.
A brutal crackdown by Pakistani security forces on protesters in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) over the last two days has reportedly left more than 30 civilians dead and over 33 injured, government sources said on Wednesday.
India played a key role in making the Human Rights Council possible.
AG Mukul Rohatgi led the Indian delegation at the UN Human Rights Council.
UN intervention has been sought to address the grievances of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
India was voted to have a one-year term.
Some 40,000 Rohingyas have settled in India, and 16,000 of them have received refugee documentation, the UN estimates.
The BRICS grouping adopted a consensus joint declaration in New Delhi, successfully navigating differences on the West Asia conflict but notably omitting any direct mention of US strikes on Iran or Iranian military attacks on Gulf Arab nations. The declaration also criticised Israel's actions in Gaza and called for a concerted approach against terrorism.
'Why he wasn't released, and why he had to die in custody?'
Silva's name was mentioned in the resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2013, alleging rights abuses by the Sri Lankan Army.
Raising the issue of Balochistan for the first time before the United Nation, India on Wednesday accused Pakistan of widespread human rights violations there as well as in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
'Human rights issues continue to be exploited selectively, more often for narrow short-term political ends,' Modi tells Ban.
In a secret-ballot voting in the 193-member UN General Assembly on that race, Pakistan secured 169 votes.
Iran's men's national soccer team wore black armbands and held schoolbags as their anthem played ahead of a match in Turkey on Friday, in what a team official said was a protest over the killing of schoolgirls on the first day of the Iran war.
The UN General Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution which calls for counter-terrorism measures, including the use of remotely-piloted aircraft or drones, to comply with international law.
Sri Lanka on Monday said the global community cannot raise issues of rights violations against it unless guided by "political reasons," as a top United States official arrived in Colombo coinciding with the United Nations rights council meeting to discuss alleged war crimes during the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam conflict.
As the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a United States-sponsored resolution on human rights violations in Sri Lanka, prominent rights groups on Thursday criticised it for failing to establish an independent international investigation into alleged crimes.
Every UN secretary-general has flagged the financial situation, but Antonio Guterres has issued the direst warning yet, calling it a 'race to bankruptcy and of imminent financial collapse, points out Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
FIFA has approved a rule change allowing Afghan women footballers, many exiled since the Taliban's return, to play official international matches in FIFA competitions.
India on Thursday abstained on a draft resolution in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka which was adopted.
India on Wednesday voted in favour of a draft resolution tabled in the UN Human Rights Council that condemns and strongly rejects recent "public and premeditated" acts of desecration of the Quran.
India abstained on the resolution, along with France, Japan, Netherlands, and Romania among others. Those voting against the resolution included Argentina, Bulgaria, Germany and the US.
India on Thursday abstained in the UN General Assembly on a vote moved by the US to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over allegations that Russian soldiers killed civilians while retreating from towns near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Taking to Twitter, United Nations Human Right Council said, 'At its 35th special session, the @UN Human Rights Council decided to create a new fact-finding mission to investigate alleged #HumanRightsViolations in the Islamic Republic of #Iran related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022.'
President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from over 60 international organisations, including United Nations bodies and the India-France-led International Solar Alliance, calling the institutions 'redundant' and 'contrary' to America's interests.
Asserting that democracy is an 'alien' concept for Pakistan, India has called upon Islamabad to end grave human rights violations in territories under its illegal occupation, where the population is in 'open revolt' against military occupation, repression, brutality and exploitation.
Addressing a media stakeout at the United Nations on Tuesday, Israel's envoy said the country's primary objective remained preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities.
